He used drugs when he was a teenager.

Barry was Obama's childhood nickname. While his mother was a Ph.D. student in anthropology at the University of Hawaii from 1972 to 1975, Obama resided in Hawaii for three years with his mother and half-sister, Maya Soetoro. Obama decided to remain in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister left for Indonesia in 1975 so that his mother could start her anthropology career. Before passing away in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for her disease, his mother spent the majority of the following two decades in Indonesia, where she divorced Lolo in 1980 and earned her Ph.D. in 1992 cancer of the uterus and ovaries.

Obama wrote during his time in Honolulu: "The chance that Hawaii affords to see many diverse cultures in an atmosphere of mutual respect has become a fundamental part of my worldview, and is the foundation of the ideals that I hold closest. Obama has talked and wrote about using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his adolescence to "push the question of who I am."

Obama maintained a perfect GPA throughout his time in college. He acknowledged using drugs in his childhood, nevertheless. Obama admitted to regularly using marijuana and using cocaine. He belonged to the "choom gang," a self-described club of pals that hung out together and occasionally used pot.